What a shower of liars, hypocrites and propaganda merchants this coalition are...

Facts.
Fur is cruel
Not as cruel as making teachers work 8-6 though (no evidence)

 

Aye 10 bob millionaire that would be another apt description.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Where did I say that? I said that the kids are in the building for 6 hours. It's a bit impossible to plan lessons in advance whilst you are teaching it, and to mark books whilst they are all writing in them.

 

What evidence would you like? Ask to volunteer at your local school, you'll get your evidence then.

 

I do 7:45 until 6 in school most days as well plus the hours at home

You are on call 24 hours a day - no evidence
Actual hours you work a day ?? Not being on call but actually working

I'm quite happy in the fact I work hard and I actually find myself getting more and more angry with having to justify my working hours to people who haven't been in schools. We all say we work these hours so how can we all be wrong.

As I said I don't hate my job or want to leave the profession because I enjoy it

 

Some of the more asinine comments on this thread reminded he of this.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Thank god I can do my job without having lots of volunteers helping me out
Also - my staff dont have to buy me loads of presents at year end to thank me for doing my job
If they did they would be handed back.

 

That post will upset the apple cart on here!!!!

 

Only stating facts.

 

I'd love to see these 'loads of' volunteers. I have a TA 3 times a week and they work with individuals/groups of children. Have you been anywhere near a school in the last 10 years? TAs aren't helpers as such anymore who do jobs for teachers, in our school they work with children the entire day. I do my own photocopying and displays otherwise they wouldn't get done - and believe it or not, I can't do either of those things whilst I'm teaching a class of 31 children.

No-one 'has' to buy me anything. Truelly, if a 4-11 yr old gave you a box of chocolates with a big smile on their face saying thank you, you'd give it back? I'd rather not face the tears and the angry parent over a pound shop box of chocolates.

 

Are you? I haven't seen a single one yet.

 

I've left it too long to edit my message about gifts now so I'll have to put in yet another post.

Also, I think it (the gifts) is more for me volunteering my time above and beyond my job. If I apparently should clock off when the kids do, here are the extra hours (not counting planning, preparing, general marking or assessing and meetings): I have ran an after school club once a week all year, that's 33 hours. I've volunteered on 2 after school sporting trips which lasted until 11pm, that's 15 hours together. I volunteered to help out with the Christmas production and am doing next week for the Year 6 leavers production, both last until 7:30, that's 8 hours together. I volunteered to run the Christmas fair and will be doing the Summer one next week both lasting until 6pm that 5 hours. On the late night events I must take all my work home (incl. carrying 150 books across the car park), as the school shuts at 6pm.

That's 61 hours of voluntary work minimum this year - on top of the 10 hours I spent in school each day, plus the 14 hours I spend working at home each week.

 

I moved abroad. I make more money, have more free time and less responsibility. I'd laugh at the idea of going home now.

**** that shambles.

 

I've worked in private and public sector and recently become self employed. Private sector rewards are far in excess of the public sector (above a certain level).

I quit my job about 18 months ago with the intention of going into teaching doing some research work initially just to keep the wolves from the door. 12 months down the line and just before my teacher training course is due to start and it's a harder decision. I'm earning more than I would ever hope to earn and make my own hours v govt interference and almost absolute undervaluing.

Given their pivotal role in society teaching should be seen as one of the most important professions. Yet we live in a world where a lad with no qualifications or life skills gets £300,000 grand a week for kicking a ball round. Madness while the terms and conditions of those who shape the future are constantly attacked. Not just by people looking for a rise on here who should know better but by the people who employ them.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

For the wife the problem isn't the t&c's etc. It's the perpetual interference in education from successive govts (all shades) allied with the fact that kids turn up with absolutely no respect for education or their teachers - and that comes from home. Given comments by the likes of mrx it's not hard to see where that attitude stems from.

Until parents start to take their childrens education seriously - beyond an occasional gawp at meaningless league tables and getting angry when the school attempts to apply discipline then there's not much hope.

 

Proud to be a teacher
Proud to pay my taxes

 

My favourite is the hours that people like Mr X reckon teachers work. He gives an outline of a school day (reasonably accurate I suppose) and claims those are their hours. No, that's the timetable for the kids, not the teachers. There's far more to the job than just teaching kids. "But they're teachers, you can only count the time they're actually teaching."

Right, I see. In that case a plasterer only works 2 hours a day. Driving to the builders merchant to buy gypsum and plaster boards, that's not plastering, you're a plasterer, so it's not work. Loading up the van and unloading at the site, not plastering, not work. Preparing the house, moving furniture, covering stuff up, not plastering, not work. Hammering through the old plaster board to find the joists in order to nail the new plaster board up, not plastering, not work. Nailing up the plasterboards, not plastering, not work. Mixing the plaster, it's prep work, it's not plastering, it's not work. Plastering the ceiling, at last the lazy b'stards are doing some work. Cleaning up, putting the house back to how they found it, loading the van back up, not plastering, not work. They've been at it 8 hours, but if you judge 'em the way a teacher is judged, they've only done 2 hours work because that was how long it took to do the actually plastering. It's the same with almost all jobs, planning, prep and post processing take up as much or more time than the actual job description. Everyone knows this, but for some reason that doesn't count with teachers.

And then you get that old chestnut, "If it's that bad, why don't you leave?" I very rarely hear teachers claiming it's a bad job. What they're saying is it's difficult and extremely stressful and the reason they feel the need to say this is that everyone appears to want to stick the boot it, from politicians to parents, to nosey ******* who haven't a clue what they're talking about having a go about every aspect of their job. It's not complaining, it's defending yourself.

"What about the holidays?" Yeah, they're good holidays, but they're the kids' holidays not the teachers' holidays. Some of that time teachers will take as their own personal holidays, but a fair chunk of it is spent working. Not teaching, but preparing and planning.

Teaching is a reasonably well paid job. Many people work very hard for less. But it's not teachers who are offering low wages, they don't want people on the poverty line. Many were out on strike yesterday not to protect their own income and pension, they'll be retiring soon, it won't affect them, they were fighting for better working conditions for the next generation. They were doing it because they want better (or at least the same) for other people. Why would anyone want worse for them?

 

Let's be right, mrx is quite possibly the least well informed poster on here. And he needs to learn that self praise is no recommendation.

As with most things people seem to draw their conclusions from tabloid headlines.

An you're right - all teachers are doing is defending themselves from attacks on them and their profession. I'd have thought for a bulletin board made up of folk from a traditional working class area, that'd be something they could sympathise with, rather than sound like a Daily Mail editorial.

 

My other half left teaching last year. She's bright, wonderfully dedicated & spent £20k on Uni fees for her to become a teacher. She started on £21k and one week we worked out she was earning round about £2.75 an hour for the 70 hour week that she'd put in. 7 days. She left it for a while, felt it wasn't right what was being asked so tried something new. Her desire to teach never left though and despite the experience she's gone back for more because she wants to help kids. That's what she wants to do. She wants to help. But regardless of your desire, would you work 70 hour weeks for <£3 an hour? Would you subject yourself to regular inspections, stress & 14 hour days for that? No, you wouldn't.

The problem is the Government think they will. They think they can do whatever they want and they'll just accept it. If they don't, there'll be others willing to. But considering the shortage of teachers out there it's looking less likely they're right...

I don't know a single teacher that wants to strike. I don't know a single teacher that wouldn't support reforms that made things better for the kids. But I do know it's got to a point where I would never recommend to anyone with any sense, ability or talent to get into teaching. It's not worth it.

She's now working in probably the most deprived area of Barnsley with kids with the lowest levels of attainment. The whole point is for her to make things better for our kids. Your kids. Why would we not think that was a good thing? Mind blowing.

 

It's getting critical. Schools are advertising positions and getting no applicants at all. For the last few years the choice has been very low, a handful at most applying for posts, but we've now got to the point where on a number of occasions no one is applying at all. And that's for teachers, deputies and heads positions. I'm not talking about run down schools in deprived areas (I dread to think how they're coping) but village schools with good reputations and excellent Ofsted reports. Advertisements go out in local and national newspapers, education supplements and magazines, and on websites and no one at all applies.

Pay is frozen, pension contributions are increased, retirement age is put back, politicians lead the attacks on the profession, which is relayed by the media and taken up by the general populace, and surprise, surprise, no fcuker wants to do the job.

Baroness Tanni Grey-*******-Thompson was on a political discussion show a couple of weeks ago pontificating about what a set of cnuts teachers are and how they all completely neglect sport in schools. My wife and I were listening to this in the car on the way home from a 7-a-side football tournament her school had organised. Mixed teams, all ages, 10 teams in total, so 70 kids. Hot dogs and burgers cooked in the school kitchen for the kids and parents. A good day. It took up all our Saturday morning and most of the afternoon. Earlier in the week her school had won two athletics competitions and a hockey competition against other schools. They'd also done really well in an Enterprise competition. It'd been running all year, like a dragons den thing for kids and the presentations had been that week at the Holiday Inn. They won loads of trophies, including one of the top awards. Year 5 kids in her school had beaten all the teams from senior schools, even 6th form students. It'd been a brilliant week for the school.

So we're driving home, knackered, thinking, "Thank Christ for that, we can now go for a beer." Then we hear that ****, and that's what people believe is happening. She hasn't a ******* clue, but she thinks she can spout that crap on national radio. Teachers had been with the kids every evening during that week, giving up their own time for other people's kids, sport coming out of their ears. I dunno what our lass thought, but I wanted to drive straight to London and nick her ******* wheelchair.